1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wood lathe, more particularly to a wood lathe with a cooling fan and an airflow guide for cooling a motor in a headstock housing of the wood lathe.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional wood lathe that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,576 and that includes a headstock 10 with a motor 12 and a spindle 11 driven by the motor 12 through a belt-and-pulley unit 13. The motor 12 is mounted in the headstock 10, and has a driving shaft 121 with opposite first and second output ends. The first output end of the driving shaft 121 is parallel to and is connected to the spindle 11 through the belt-and-pulley unit 13. A cooling fan 14 has a driven shaft coaxially connected to the second output end of the driving shaft 121 so as to cool the motor 12 upon rotation of the driving shaft 121.
The aforesaid wood lathe is disadvantageous in that since the cooling fan 14 is coaxially mounted on the second output end of the driving shaft 121, only an axial end of the motor 12 can be cooled by the cooling fan 14. As such, the cooling effect for the motor 12 is not satisfactory.
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate another conventional wood lathe that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,055,651 and that includes a headstock 20 with a belt-and-pulley unit 21 and other movable parts mounted thereon. A U-shaped tubular member 22 is mounted on the headstock 20, and is filled with a fluid therein. A fan 23 is connected to the tubular member 22 for circulating the fluid in the tubular member 22. The headstock 20 defines a plurality of passages 200 that are filled with cooling fluid. Heat transfer from the cooling fluid in the passages 200 through inner walls 201, 202 to the fluid in the tubular member 22 takes place for cooling a lubricant chamber in the headstock 20, thereby preventing wearing and distortion of the movable parts.
The aforesaid conventional wood lathe is disadvantageous in that since the inner walls 201, 202 form a heat barrier to the aforesaid heat transfer, the cooling effect on the lubricant chamber is insufficient.